Marcos to sign Negros Island bill into law

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Monday said he will sign the Negros Island Region (NIR) bill into law to decentralize access to government services.

Speaking to reporters in Bacolod City, the President said that the measure, which seeks to unify Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, and Siquijor under one administrative region, is a «good idea.»

«It makes sense because it's very difficult for Oriental to be located and serviced in a regional center,» Marcos said during a chance interview.

«That's the reason behind the push for making it a single region so that they'll have their own regional office. I think I will sign it,» he added.

Marcos, who led the ceremonial «switch-on» of the Cebu-Negros-Panay Backbone project in Bacolod City, stressed the need to fix the problem.

«It is very hard to bring government services to the people,» he said. «So, that needs to be fixed. That has long been a problem.»

Last month, senators unanimously approved Senate Bill 2507, creating the NIR to promote administrative decentralization and strengthen local autonomy to accelerate cultural and social development of the region.

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said that residents of Negros Occidental, who have transactions with national government agencies, get stuck sometimes in Iloilo because of the rough weather.

This is also experienced by residents of Negros Oriental and Siquijor who have to go to Cebu City for government transactions.

Once enacted into law, the NIR Act shall create a technical working group composed of the National Economic and Development Authority, Department of the Interior and Local Government as the secretariat, Department of Budget and Management, the representative of the Office of the Governor of the provinces, and representatives from all elected members of the House of Representatives of the provinces.

It is expected to contribute to the region's ease-of-doing-business by empowering residents and instilling investor confidence in its capacity to facilitate efficient government transactions.